Organized Labor

By editor

Anaconda, Deer Lodge County, Montana

In the late 19th century, when the American West was still trying to figure out if it preferred rugged individualism or industrial capitalism, the town of Anaconda, Montana, settled the question in favor of copper, smelting, and a labor movement born of necessity rather than choice. You see, Anaconda did not sprout like a wildflower in the open prairie; it was carved out of the earth and smoke by the Washoe Smelter, a behemoth of industry that turned raw ore into the gleaming metal that wired the nation’s cities and illuminated its streets. But the price paid by the men who stood in front of those furnaces was steep: dangerous conditions, grueling hours, and wages that barely kept pace with the rising cost of living.

Between 1890 and 1900, as the Washoe Smelter gained a reputation for being both a marvel of industrial might and a crucible of hardship, the workers--drawn from every corner of the country and the world--began to organize. They were not men accustomed to taking orders without question, and they certainly were not inclined to accept the kind of work that could send a man’s body home in a box. The unions that blossomed in Anaconda were numerous and diverse. The 1920 Anaconda City Directory lists no fewer than thirty trade and labor organizations, a fact that would make any self-respecting boss sweat through his collar. Among these were the Central Labor Council, the Mill and Smeltermen's Union, the Anaconda Typographical Union, the Barber's Union, the Blacksmiths' and Helpers' Union, and even the Musicians' Union--because even in the shadow of the furnaces, someone had to play the banjo.

Now, it would be tempting to imagine that the rise of these unions was simply a matter of men bonding over their shared misery. But there was more at work here. The copper industry was booming, especially in the years leading up to the Great War. In 1887, the Anaconda Company claimed world leadership in copper production, a title it would jealously guard for decades. Railroads snaked into the region, bringing ore and supplies, as well as bankers and land speculators who saw in Montana’s copper veins the promise of fortunes yet to be made. Yet as the company’s profits climbed, the wages of the workers lagged behind, inching up from an average of $3.00 per day in 1900 to a mere $3.85 by 1915. Put another way, the men who fueled the copper empire were paid less than a dollar an hour, working shifts that could extend twelve hours or more, often in conditions thick with sulphur dioxide and dust.

The gulf between profits and pay was not lost on the men or their families. As one labor leader, Frank Little, a fiery orator and organizer, famously declared in 1917, “We are not asking for charity or a handout; we demand a living wage for the lives we risk daily.” Little was a member of the Industrial Workers of the World, known as the Wobblies, and he understood that labor unrest was not just about money but about dignity and survival.

The fuse for a major confrontation was lit by a tragedy that the world could not ignore--the Granite Mountain/Speculator Mine fire of 1917. In Butte, just a few miles from Anaconda, 164 men perished in what became the deadliest hard rock mining disaster in American history. The smoke and flames that consumed those miners were a grim reminder of the risks these men faced for the copper that powered the nation. The fire sent shockwaves through the region, igniting anger and fear among workers and their families. Within days, a general strike was called in both Butte and Anaconda, demanding a $5.00 per day wage--up from the paltry $3.85--and improved working conditions.

The strike was not a quiet affair. Federal troops were brought in to garrison both towns, ostensibly to prevent violence but effectively to intimidate workers. For six months, the strike held, a stalemate that drained the resources and patience of both sides. Eventually, a compromise was reached: the adoption of a sliding wage scale tied to the price of copper. This meant that when copper prices rose, so would wages. When they fell, so would paychecks--a precarious arrangement that left workers vulnerable to the whims of the global market.

Yet even as the strike ended, the fight was far from over. In 1919, a second strike broke out, but this time the tide had turned against the unions. The copper market was depressed after the war, and the Anaconda Company had begun expanding its holdings overseas, diversifying away from reliance on Montana’s mines and smelters. When the Washoe Smelter reopened in 1921, wages were cut back, and the unions found themselves on the defensive. The pattern of gain and loss, boom and bust, became a familiar rhythm for the workers and their families--a grueling dance with fortune that tested their resolve.

Through it all, the labor movement in Anaconda remained a force to be reckoned with. The solidarity forged in those years was not merely about securing better wages but about asserting the rights of working men in an era when corporations held near-absolute power. As labor historian Melvyn Dubofsky noted, “The unions in Anaconda were among the most militant and organized in the American West, a fact that shaped the politics and economy of Montana for generations.”

It is worth remembering that the labor struggle in Anaconda was not isolated. It was part of a broader national and international movement in which workers challenged the excesses of industrial capitalism. Yet what made Anaconda unique was the scale and intensity of its industrial complex and the fierce loyalty of its workers. These were men who knew the cost of copper not just in dollars but in lives and limbs.

In the end, the story of organized labor in Anaconda is a story of contradictions: spectacular industrial success built on the backs of men who often saw little of the wealth they created, and a labor movement born of hardship but sustained by hope. The copper flowed, the smelters roared, and the men and women of Anaconda kept the wheels turning, their unions a stubborn knot of resistance in a world bent on profit above all else.

See also

• Organized Labor at Anaconda, Deer Lodge County
• Contributions of the Washoe Smelter at Anaconda, Deer Lodge County
• Butte's Underground Mines at Butte, Silver Bow County